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Subscribe to RSSThe DMV has asked a Virginia man to return his personalized license plate after it was deemed offensive. Anne McNamara reports.
GLOUCESTER, Va. -- The Department of Motor Vehicles asked a Gloucester man to return his license plates seven years after he first registered the tags. According to the DMV, the message on them is inappropriate.
Rick Sanders said he chose "FOSAMA" because he is passionate about supporting the nation's military. Sanders bought his first vanity plate after the September 11 terrorist attacks. That plate read "H8UBIN."
But, it's his latest plates that are causing all the commotion.
"It can be meant as 'Fight Osama, forget Osama,' whatever you want it to be," said Sanders.
Two months before his current plates are set to expire, Sanders received a letter from the DMV saying he has 30 days to return them. The letter said the DMV made an error issuing him plates that violate its guidelines. The DMV explained the plates are "profane, obscene or vulgar in nature."
Replacement plates came with the letter, and in an ironic twist, Sanders told WAVY.com he finds the message on them offensive. They read "6668UP." Sanders read the message as 'the devil ate you up.'
"I definitely want another plate," said Sanders. "I don't appreciate the plate they sent me. I would like the chance to pick my own."
'Inappropriate'
A spokesperson for the DMV said the number and letter combinations are chosen at random. The DMV is willing to work with Sanders until he is satisfied.
The DMV said judging by how long it's been since Sanders registered, the change is probably provoked by a complaint.
The DMV physically reviews vanity plates, and sometimes runs them through software that reads the message both forward and backward.
If additional review is needed, the plates will go before a committee of 12 people, chosen from within the DMV. The committee members are all different ages and come from different backgrounds in the agency.
Read original story, watch video on WAVY.com
Here are the conditions that deem a plate "inappropriate." If the combination of characters carries, in any way, a connotation that may be reasonably seen by a person viewing the plate as:
- Profane, obscene, or vulgar in nature
- Sexually explicit or graphic
- Excretory related
- Used to describe intimate body parts or genitals
- Used to describe drugs, drug culture, or drug use
- Used to condone or encourage violence
- Used to describe illegal activities or illegal substances
- Socially, racially, or ethnically offensive or disparaging
A spokesperson said 13 percent of the 7.5 million vehicles in the Commonwealth have vanity plates. In 2011, the state made $9 million from vanity plate purchases, according to a DMV spokesperson.
The DMV committee will only review putting '666' on license plates if they receive a significant number of consumer complaints.
What do you think? Vote in the poll we pasted on the WAVY TV 10 Facebook page.
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Leave a Comment:
I wonder if he can replace it with "F.VA.DMV"
Sorry profane.
Retract
Who's offended by this? bin Laden? He's dead.
An example of "state" taking away your 1st Amendment right? --- Now why would that offend anyone?
They are not taking away his 1st amendment right, he can write on his car all he wants. He may not have a "OFFICIAL" license plate issued by the "government" DMV that they fell could be construed as supporting something that may be found offensive.
And for your information the 1st amendment NEVER meant you could say anything you want anytime you want, it means you can contradict and complain and organize against the government without it being able to punish you for it.
I guess I better scrap my plans for vanity plates in honor of Edward Bulwer-Lytton unless they can fit "mightier than the sword" on there too.
Ok, They screwed up.. sooooooooooo they should pay for his new plate. Just saying
I thought it meant "Frolicking Osama"...
There is nothing offensive about his plate. Just because some puritanical a-hole read something into his plate that was not there is no reason for them to revoke his tags. The fact that he has been driving around with this plate for seven years without anyone complaining clearly shows that there is nothing inherently offensive about the tag. These DMV idiots need to grow a pair and tell whoever whined about these plate to go fly a kite.
Another government crackdown on an unruly citizenry.
Is Virginia one of those states that don't need a front license plate? If so, I would think he could have a custom plate made up somewhere for the front plate.
sfs: No. Virginia requires front plates.
Guess I should forego my plans to get a vanity plate that reads "P3N15".
I found it interesting that the DMV spokesman said "it was probably" due to a complaint. Why can't they say with confidence what was the cause of pulling the plates 7 years after they were issued?
So why would 1 complaint cause a plate to be banned?
@bluthuder . . . . . . . . You said "for your information the 1st amendment NEVER meant you could say anything you want any time you want" right after you said "he can write on his car all he wants". Sounds like a contradiction to me, I don't think you know what you're talking about. The 1st Amendment to the Constitution gives all American's the right to say what ever they damn well please as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, and even then some may be hurt. However, there is a law being tested in the Supreme Court that is testing our right to lie (concerning the Medal of Honor), check it out. And not only that, I could put ANY letters on my license plate and anyone could make it out to be offensive.
@ *bluthunder* the 1st amendment NEVER meant you could say anything you want anytime you want, it means you can ##organize against the government without it being able to punish you for it.##
Try this and go to jail for Sedition....
Unfortunately, our government doesn't always follow the constitution as we have seen with some recent laws including PATRIOT, Obamacare, and all of the state voter ID laws.
This SCOTUS case might help add to the discussion. I personally don't think the license plate was offensive, but, I don't work in the DMV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roth_v._United_States
Yeah, we have to be careful about not offending Al-Qaeda, because we all know the care they take in not burning US flags
I find nothing offensive about the plate.
That is the point you don't find it offensive but others do. Some people don't find using profanity offensive but others do. There are guidelines and the state needs to stick to them...good for Virginia.
Oh_no,
I weep for my country when I see there are citizens who think they have the right to not be offended.
I agree with you 100% denver the only thing is that as it is an official license plate issued by the state, they cannot appear for the state to be seen as supporting what may be construed as offensive.
although how anyone could find this offensive is beyond me.
denver
Weep all you want... I suspect you don't understand the concept of reasonable limits. There are very few black and white issues in life, the grey areas are generally regulated by society's values and obviously Virginia has some. You and I may disagree just what they are, as individuals, but drawing a line is in fact a reasonable thing to do. So maybe we should allow license plates to say "FukU" and that would be ok by you?
Who gets to say what is appropriate, you?
The letter "F" could stand for anything. Its the interpretation by the person reading it that makes it "vulgar".
America is becoming a land of wussies and PW'd that are offended at everything.
Oh_no: The problem is that out of over 8 million people in Virginia, a dozen or so is all it takes to define "offensive" for the rest of us here, at least according to the DMV. Essentially, you're condoning letting ~0.000005% of the population dictate what can or cannot be displayed. If one person in your town decided that displays of Christmas lights are offensive, should they be able to prevent the entire town from displaying them at all? Other than the lights not being bought from the government, can you tell me that it's any different?
There was nothing in the lettering of the plate that should be construed as offensive, unless you were specifically looking to be offended. I think the shape of the facade of the new courthouse in my county looks like a phallus. Should the half-dozen of my friends who agree with me complain and force the county to modify it or build a new one? Come on.
The insanity has to stop somewhere. Every single day, we get closer to "1984" and we seem to be too damned complacent to do anything about it.
I find it offensive that any American would find F.OSAMA offensive, no matter WHAT they thought the F stood for.
Nobody has to find it offensive. The standard is whether a reasonable person would view the plate as "profane, obscene or vulgar in nature". From these posts, it's clear the plate is viewed as obscene to most, even if people are not generally offended by it.
This isn't a sexual harassment case, where somebody has to actually be offended. Just the presence of obscenity or vulgarity is enough. And clearly, everyone knows what the man means by "F". Nobody would be offended by an "FSANTORUM" plate, but it would still be obscene and vulger.
Hope that distinction makes sense.
wow i hope it meant find osama i just couldn't imagine it meaning anything else but I'm wondering what does profanity mean lol someone must have a dirty mind to think it means anything else haha
Probably someone that thought what he really wanted it to be was replace the S with a B. So it's all BS!
Offensive? how about OBMANIG?, how that for a license plate, ill see if its available in my state.
And WHO CARES if osama is offended HES DEAD. Oh and i can get a plate that says OBMANIG, first thing Monday Morning.
Am I offending ANYONE if I put QZMJZP on my license plate, or how about FO or FB or SM or ABC or ACME or BRAND X or anything else that does or doesn't make any sense. Take the word FRIEND, I could easily make that to mean something very offensive to someone, does that mean the state has to recall all license plates that have at least one letter that COULD spell a very offensive word. Yeah, that's what their saying.
We have become a nation of PUSSIES! Politically correct or not, sigh.......
I am not offended at all by the plate, would not have thought about it twice but my argument is for REASONABLE limits and there as to be standards set else "FUK U" would be allowed and then I would definitely find that offensive. So where do we draw the line...your personal or my personal decision of what is appropriate?
Virginia has a standard or a process that makes such a determination and it sounds REASONABLE even if I don't find F.OSAMA to be offensive...give up the damn license plate and get on with it.
I'm an Obama supporter, but oppose this level of censorship. It's just too ambiguous to be considered "vulgar'. I am surprised that Gov. vaginal probe didn't step in to make a political issue out of it. Hating Obama appeals strongly to his base. On the other hand, he wants to be a VP candidate so he's doing the etch-a-sketch thing.
Sanity that is funny.
Radical, that means I can go out and get one that says AWMD. Now that could mean A Weapon Mass Destruction or it could mean All Whiteys Must Died or All White Men Die, or All Women Make Dinner or A Weak Monday Driver. Which do you think it could mean if you are behind me in traffic, see how that works? Don't be dumb, and stop trolling the waters.
Let the man have his plates for crying out loud. There is a license plate approval panel? Get fukn real, this @!$%# gets more ridiculous every day
NO KIDEN. I fully agree @phillyfan, hhuuuuummmm I think I'll put that on my license plate. Opps! Man that's gross, no way Virginia will let me do that!
Maybe they have Osteoporosis and were just trying to spell Fosamax. What's wrong with that?
LMAO, that is what I thought when I first saw the pic, too many years working in a pharmacy I guess!
Wake, I thought that too and thought the pharm company didn't want him using it or it was advertising. I had to stare a moment to get it..lol.
Good luck fixing that mistake, DMV.
paranoia and censorship - the end of it all
From US tax payors: FOWEBAMA
Ralph Nadar 2012
Congratulations. You were the first ass hole on this thread!
I'm offended, I'm offended.
I see nothing wrong with the plate - with everything else going on this country, why is this even a small issue. It just seems that anybody and everybody is finding offense with the least little things.....our freedom of speech is gone.
A bit over board are you not. You can speak all you want but the state does not want to sell license plates that appear potentially vulgar or rude. Put a sticker on your car that says F.OBAMA all you want but I think the state is right...show a little class. I don't think the state should be a party to anyone's lack of class.
Maybe they should issue license plates that say "FukU", "UPYOURS", "KISMYAS" etc. and that would be ok? Who gets to say what is reasonable, you?
That's the second time you've stated "Who gets to decide what is reasonable, you?"
Apparently, a dozen or so people get to decide for 8 million of us. How is that any different?
@Oh_no . . . . is F.BUSH okay???
jmwhite - where do you see a dozen or so people making the decision for 8 million?
If there is a board appointed to review these matters then that is their job if you don't like it talk to your representative. There are lots of decisions to be made on a daily basis in government and they all can't be decided by popular vote...that how it works. You personally don't get to pick and choose which ones you like, it is not about you, it is about us.
tnayew
you miss my whole point, I am not offended by F.OSAMA, F.OBAMA, F.BUSH etc. I would be offended by FUK U, for example and I am sure you would be offended by something. The point is we just can't allow anything to go and Virginia as a process in place to review these things, we may not agree with the decisions all the time but it is better than nothing. Their decision is good move on.
It was in the article, Oh_no.
"The DMV said judging by how long it's been since Sanders registered, the change is probably provoked by a complaint."
That's a pretty simple context. I was even being generous and allowing for as many as a dozen complaints.
I understand your point; truly, I do. It is about reasonable limits. Where we differ is in our definition of reasonable. If the plates were fine for nearly seven years, it's ridiculous to change them because of a few (maybe as few as just one) complaints.
It's not about deciding things by "popular vote". We're talking about dictating policy that affects millions (trivially, I admit) based upon the opinions of a very few people. It's ludicrous.
jmwhite - "the change is probably provoked" by a complaint is not definitive, operative word "probably" as in I don't know. It could be a dozen it could be 100, you don't know, I don't know and the writer quoting the DMV did not probe into numbers so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Even if it is one complaint most likely these matters are generally not decided on one person bitching. Maybe one person brought something to their attention that fell through the cracks which initiated a review that should have happened in the first place. Things falling through the cracks happen all the time but just because they do is no reason to give someone a pass because they had it for 7 years.
Still my whole point again is there has to be rules, regulations, policies and lines drawn or else we all would sh%t on each other, it is unfortunate but that is our nature. Sometimes the results of our policies may seem stupid but this is not the end of the earth and this issue in the scheme of things does not warrant a special review...give up the plates move on.
If they let him keep that, it will start a trend that we really don't need. i wish people had a little more class.
A voice of reason, thank you
Class in America, not in today's world!!!!! Just look at your television, you got Jersey Sore, that's some class there I tell you (sarcasm for you un-sarcastic readers). Or for that matter, any damn show that is on today shows NO CLASS.
Do you know what I think is classless? Pretending you know for what the F in FOSAMA stands. Just because you want it to mean the first letter a dirty word, that doesn't mean that it does. Your judgement of him is infinitely more telling about perceived level of class than his license plate is.
Freedom of speech is a right, license plates are not a right. The rules were made before the violation occurred. He gets new plates
And whatever plate he gets is going to be vulgar because anyone can just about make an offensive & vulgar word out of any letter in the English language. And did you know, you only rent the plates. They are the property of the state of Virginia and they decide what goes on them. The only problem now is, they're ALL vulgar. Thanks Virginia, oh oh that's obscene.
Obviously the "F" in his license plate now stands for "Fishfood".
All vanity plates should be ban ! there unnecessary and only for egotistic people ! its freedom of speech , not freedom of plates !
Then I guess from what you state they should ban televisions and internet too?
Wacko much?
Tin foil supply running low????????????????????
Why is everyone being so hard on schooldog? He's got it right, man. Ban all mirrors, electricity, cars, cheap plastic Chinese-made junk, airplanes, movies, guns, hookers, Hungarian immigrants, Trivial Pursuit, memory-foam mattresses and bottled water, too. Nobody needs those things!
(Posted in bold and italics to show my solidarity with you, schooldog.)
Hold on wait just a FOSAMA second!!!!! They are going after this man from what his licence plate states, but won't cut television programs or Hollywood from their porn and sinister movies and tv shows that are aired daily on any cable company? WOW, what the FU(K happened to AMERICA???????
I think it means "For Osama" guy, don't try to pass this off as being for the Military....it don't fit.
A pro-Muslim plate, maybe?
I still remember the lady with the I love tofu plate that got beeped too.
I think it read ILVTOFU. Evidently the DMV has never had General Tso's Tofu.
I read that one as tofu myself...but then I love tofu and commented that it was a cool plate to have...lol.
Dang Virginia is at it again, they rejected my plate choice supporting the last administration, BUSH&DICK
*Yawn*
My family is patriotic. We honor our Vets. My husband and friends served in Vietnam. My nephew now proudly serves in the USAF. My heart is overwhelmed to see the difference (improvement) in the way our country is treating our returning Veterans as compared to the situation in the 60s and 70s. Progress!...and appreciation for the sacrifices made by our young men and women to defend the freedoms that we, as a country, can easily take for granted. So, now that I have defended my own family's honor, here goes:
I know of a pharmacist who had the letters SMEGMA on his liceense plate for YEARS. Now, smegma is a kinda nasty little issue that isn't something to discuss at dinner. However, another so-called "medical" individual saw this plate and cried to the Alaska DMV that it was offensive and inappropriate. My friend gets a nasty certified letter from the State of Alaska, DEMANDING that he surrender those plates because they were "inappropriate." They threatened a fine, loss of license, blah, blah, blah...very cordial customer service. My friend complied, however...know what SMEGMA stood for on those plates? Sometimes My Enormous Girth Migrates Anatomically. Spoken by a post-bypass guy.
So screw all of you people who are offended by FOSAMA. If Momma Osama had that on her plates it would mean FOEVER OSAMA. Now wouldn't THAT just piss you conservatives off? The DMVs need to find something else to focus on. Maybe you can all come to Alaska to work.
The DMV in every state should shut the hell up and stop violating this country's right to freedom of expression. As for F.
I see nothing wrong with this plate; if others find it so, the fault is in their own minds. I wonder what this country is becoming when people search for ways to be offended, and then "make stuff up" when they can't find anything of substance. Be careful what you wish for, the next imagined offense might be the garden gnome in your front yard, or something else that some twisted malcontent construes as "unsavory". We deserve what's coming, because we seem to have thrown our legacy of liberty under the bus. RIP.
lol hear ya. I read and re-read the story...still don't understand what the heck it means. I'd better check here...does anyone have a problem with my plates: BLT421? I wouldn't want that to be code for something...I didn't know about either
Damn right, I have a problem with it! It's offensive to people who like eating bacon-based sandwiches after getting high.
I wonder how many people will get the AWESOME joke I just made...
jmwhite540...I am soooo sorry that it offends you. Hope we dont run into each other on the road.
ps: luv your comment, dude!
Ah, but fear not nation - for we are a creative people down here in Ye Olde Dominion. They're more like guidelines than rules - we find ways to put all manner of creative things on our plates down here.
Sure makes driving interesting...no shortage of things to read in 6-7 letters while you're rolling across 95 at 80mph.
Too true cowboy! I love reading all of the plates going from home to work in va five days a week. Some of them a quite imaginative!
So - they were responding to a complaint - why do they have to side with the jerk who is complaining - the only ones I see really being offended are being hunted by pilotless Predators anyway.
I'd rather see the FOSAMA plate than one that I had ride by me a few years back that read DRUNKY. DMV, really? You're going to let someone have the word drunk on their vanity plate????
Virginia, why don't you ban the letter F altogether?
Yeah! And throw C, A, H, S and P out while we're at it! No, you know what? Screw letters! Non-offensive numbers and hieroglyphs only!
BTW, I've actually seen the DRUNKY plate just south of Charlottesville on I-64. I thought the exact same thing as you when I saw it. Small world...
Hilarious - they sent a replacement plate that starts "666" and claim it was a random selection. Now that is totally f up. The sequence "666" in any position should be banned from any plates as offensive - certainly as offensive as the letter 'f' (maybe "999" also, in case it is installed or viewed upside down.)
With a little careful thought, we can find the logic to ban all letters and numbers from license plates.
Best plate I've ever seen: NTMNTM
If you're under 60 don't even try to figure that one out.
I'm under 60 and it's "Aunty Em ,Aunty Em!". Dorothy -Wizard of OZ
Awesome! is that your plate?
Guess we’re not in Kansas anymore.
All this talk about censorship and 1984 is getting too real.
F.OBAMA would be much better.
Better yet ,F.Boozer. It didn't take long for the Freaks to come out.
I agree, F.BOOZER would be much, much better.
Easy now, kids... Boozer may find that offensive and the VA DMV will ban it.
Besides, you know there's always at least one who'll invoke our president's name in a negative manner on every single article. I'm surprised that one of these dunces hasn't accused Obama of being a Moonie yet.
It's just Obama's turn that's all. I feel sorry for the guy who wins in November.
Its turning more and more like China !